In March 1863, Confederate Gen. John D. Imboden presented Gen. Robert E. Lee a plan to invade the northwestern counties of Virginia in order to destroy Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridges and trestles, recruit young men for the Confederate army, and attack Union garrisons at Beverly, Philippi, and Buckhannon. Lee approved the plan, which also called for Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones to wreck the railroad line to the north while Imboden attacked Federal positions at Beverly and nearby. On April 20, Imboden left Buffalo Gap, about ten miles northwest of Staunton, with 3,365 men, passing near this spot two days later, and Jones with 3,000 men left camp near Harrisonburg on April 21. By the time they returned to Buffalo Gap on May 25, Imboden’s men had traveled more than 400 miles and Jones’s command more than 700 miles. Together and separately, the raiders occupied Beverly, Philippi, and Buckhannon, captured 700 Federals, seized about 1,200 horses and 4,000 cattle, and burned four turnpike bridges, more than 20 railroad bridges, two trains, and 150,000 barrels of oil. They also occupied Morgantown, causing a brief panic in western Pennsylvania. Most bridges were soon repaired, and by May 17 the railroad line was restored. By May 26, both commands had returned to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Casualties were approximately 800 for the Federals and fewer than 100 for the Confederates. Although about 500 young men joined the Confederate forces during the raid, both Lee and Imboden overestimated the loyalty of the residents to old Virginia. On April 20, the day Imboden began his part of the raid, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that all conditions for West Virginia statehood had been fulfilled, and the new state formally entered the Union on June 20, 1863.